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the
land: A volcanic chain of mountains extends the whole length of
the island: 15 volcanoes are above 3000 m and 44 are between 2-3000
m. There's a vast contrast between the sluggish muddy isle-enclosed
Java Sea of the north coast, and the wild deserted shoreline of
the South Sea, where the continental shelf drops off sharply into
the Indian Ocean and tremendous waves crash against steep dangerous
beaches. Most manufacturing and processing in Indonesia takes
place on Java. The main manufactured products of Java are tea,
tobacco, foods, beverages, rubber, textiles, timber. In East Java
there are many sugar cane plantations. Java's level of fertility
is without parallel in any equatorial land elsewhere and mostof
its people make their living by farming. Because of the miraculously
rich volcanic soil, farmers often harvest 2 or even 3 rice crops
a year; maize grows in 7 weeks and a banana tree in 10 weeks.
Some irrigation systems are over 2000 years old. There isn't enough
land to go around and, since large families are common, land is
split up many times among sons and daughters. Javanese farmers
must make a living for their families of 5 and 6 children from
the same space that an average Australian farm family uses to
park its cars and tractors.
The
average holding has now dropped to 0.6 hectare of land per family
(about 2 acres) with 0.3 being for rice, and the rest the family
uses as fruit and vegetable gardens, house and stables. Only 7%
of Java's land is cultivated by estates as compared to about 93%
managed by smallholders. Steep hills are laboriously terraced,
sometimes only one meter wide, by handtool methods. Everything
that grows on Java has its use and nothing is thrown away unless
it's made into compost or used to feed chickens. Rocks and stones
are removed by hand and stray soil is swept up with brooms and
returned to the paddy. In principle, land is village owned and
established villagers have a right to work land which was cultivated
by their ancestors. Shifting cultivation is almost unknown, cattle
are seldom raised. Java has been without arable forest land since
before WWII, since all its forests have been cut down to make
room for people and for ricegrowing. No more forests can be cleared
for farming or for firewood without increasing the very serious
erosion problem even more. It is already a race against time.
The funds which are directed for re-forestation and extensive
terracing only get siphoned off as they travel down the long pipeline
of offices and departments. The Javanese farmer won't begin terracing
a whole hillside for Rp2000. Meanwhile the topsoil of Java is
sliding into the sea; the whole island might be a desert by the
year 2050.
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